>> bret: next on "special report," the bay state backlash felt all the way to washington. winner scott brown talks about what he'll do as the 41st republican senator. healthcare reform in disarray. the white house and congressional democrats try to deal with the new political reality on capitol hill. lawmakers rip the administration terrorism policy following last month's attempted airliner bombing. we look at the changing political landscape one year after the inauguration of president obama. all that, plus brit hume's analysis and the fox all stars right here, right now. ♪ ♪ >> bret: welcome to washington. i'm bret baier. the man whose election has rocked the democratic party and jeopardized the president's healthcare reform agenda will come to washington thursday. republican scott brown's victory tuesday in a special senate election is being seen

as a rebuke of the democratically controlled congress and the new administration. we have fox team coverage tonight. jim angle has details on what brown's win does to healthcare reform. and we begin with chief political correspondent karl cameron in boston where the senator-elect spoke to the media this morning. good evening. >> he did, bret, but now he is headed to washington. he will have courtesy visits with members of the massachusetts congressional delegation tomorrow. all of them democrat. he'll meet with the republican leader mitch mcconnell of kentucky and former republican presidential nominee john mccain but then back to massachusetts where his daughter has a basketball game he wants to see tomorrow. he's eager and impatient to get to work, he says. >> it's important that we hit the ground running because there is very important issues facing our country. >> reporter: the morning after his historic upset win to the senate, republican scott brown said his decisive victory should allow him to

begin work right away. >> since the election is not in doubt, i'm hopeful that the senate will seat me on the basis of those unofficial returns. we're going down tomorrow. >> reporter: the immediate impact of his election will be felt in the healthcare debate. now that the democrats no longer have a filibuster-proof majority. >> the number one thing i've heard is people are tired of business as usual. what does that mean? that means the behind-the-scenes deals, nebraska subsidizing of medicaid forever, things like that have just, they drive people crazy. >> one thing is very, very clear aiz travel throughout the state. people do not want the trillion dollar healthcare plan. >> reporter: as last night's rally, the new poster boy for republican resurgence cast a victory in democrat massachusetts as shot heard around the world. >> when there is trouble in massachusetts, rest assured there is trouble everywhere and they know it. >> reporter: having lost a 30-point lead in a month, democrat martha coakley and her party are soul searching. >> there will be plenty of wednesday morning

quarterbacking about what happened and what went right and what went wrong. i know everyone, including me, i'm brutally honest on my own performances, we will be honest about the assessment of this race. >> reporter: even the president's last-minute campaign trail appearance couldn't save coakley. in victory, brown was gracious, choosing not to attack the president, even though mr. obama dissed his pick-up. >> forget the truck. everybody can buy a truck. >> i didn't mind when the president came here and criticized me and talked about, you know, some of the things that he disagreed with me on. but when he started to criticize my truck, that's where i draw the line. >> reporter: democrats tried to paint brown as right winger but the massachusetts independents didn't see it that wi and gave him the vote to put him over the top. he does not consider himself a lock-step republican party guy. >> maybe there is a new breed of republican coming to washington. maybe people will look at someone who is not beholden to the special interest of

the party and will look to just to solve problems. >> reporter: he's tried to shun political labels. says he's scott brown kind of republican. but his victory was all across massachusetts and in extraordinary place, not the least of which hiyannisporhyan . bret? >> bret: carl cameron live in boston. thank you. president obama today said democrats should not try to jam a healthcare reform bill through the senate before brown gets there. but the president is still committed doing something in the wake of the massachusetts verdict. chief washington correspondent jim angle looks at what comes next. >> reporter: scott brown's promise to be the 41st senator to vote against democratic healthcare reforms resulted in an immedian immedi in the polls. >> people had an opportunity to speak and they spoke

loudly. no they are trying to pick up the pieces of the puzzle and recognize the current approach is failing and not sure what to do next. >> in heeding the particular concerns of the voters of massachusetts last night, we heard, we will heed, we will move forward with their considerations in mind. but we will move forward. >> reporter: there had been talk of getting the house to pass a senate bill that many despised and then fixing it later. >> i think the senate bill passing as a stand-alone measure in the house not only probably doesn't it pass, i'm not sure it should. >> i know the leadership fought with the idea. let's just take the senate bill and vote on it on the house floor. it bet it wouldn't get 100 votes. >> reporter: less than half the votes it would need to pass. house democrats who met with the leader last night scoffed at the idea of passing the senate bill and trying to fix it later. >> i'm not sure i'd state my ranch on the idea you will

get a second bill passed. we are having enough trouble getting the first one passed. >> reporter: another alternative was closed off today when democrat james web said he would not support any votes on the senate in healthcare until scott brown is sworn in. >> i don't believe healthcare is dead but i don't believe that the senate should take any more votes until senator elect brown is properly seated. >> reporter: the democratic leader in the senate wasn't any more specific but the fever to approve something quickly appears to have passed. >> we're not going to rush into anything. as you've heard, we're going to wait until the new senator arrives before we do anything more on healthcare. remember the bill we passed in the senate is good for a year. >> reporter: white house officials including the president were stunned an conceded the brown victory is a blow. >> the president was surprised and frustrated. it would certainly put myself in that category. not expecting to lose that senate race. >> reporter: and in an interview with abc today, the

president himself says congress should now coalesce around the reforms that people agree on, apparently meaning those items that have bipartisan support and might actually pass. a move republicans argue they called for several months ago. bret? >> bret: well, okay, jim. thanks. let's get perspective now from the senior political analyst brit hume on the massachusetts election and the democrats' reaction. good evening, brit. >> hi, bret. floating in the river of commentary on the massachusetts senate election is the claim that it mostly reflects an anti-incumbency mood and that bay state voters were just as angry at republicans as at democrats. well, in that's true, they have a peculiar way of showing it. scott brown is no watered down greened up republican light. he's fortax cut, reagan kind and against big spending. on defense he wants a military "second to none" and no constitutional protection for enemy captives. he's even said waterboarding is not torture. on the environment, he's

skeptical man is warming the planet and flatly opposes the cap and trade bill pushed by the president. of course, he is against the centerpiece of the obama agenda, the healthcare reform bill. those are position you might expect from the republican running in a conservative state. but scott brown ran on them in liberal massachusetts and won convincingly, because tens of thousands of people who normally vote "d," voted "r." president obama said today that the anger that elected brown is the same anger that elected him. it goes back eight years, he said. in other words, massachusetts has elected its first republican senator since the 1970s because it was still mad about the bush administration. wow! bret? >> bret: what about outside of healthcare reform, brit? the impact. >> i think this is huge. and it will extend well beyond healthcare. anybody running. democrat or republican for congress this year has got to look at the massachusetts verdict and say if that man wa with these agenda in these

times can be elected in that state, any republican can run everywhere, and every democrat has to be worried. that doesn't mean they're all going to win or all going to lose but i think it will effect many an issue. >> bret: okay, brit. thanks. >> you bet. >> bret: we will look at who got it right and who did not in the polling for the massachusetts election. and critics who say the administration is getting it all wrong on terrorism have their say on capitol hill. boss: hey, those gecko ringtones you put on our website are wonderful. people love 'em! gecko: yeah, thank you sir. turned out nice. boss: got another one for you.

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>> bret: this has been a day of recriminations and secondguessing. not just about the massachusetts election and healthcare reform. the administration's response to the attempted bombing of an airliner on christmas day was torched in two separate congressional hearings today. national correspondent catherine herridge shows us what happened. >> reporter: it was a stunning concession before the senate homeland security committee. neither of the face's top intelligence officer nor one of his senior deputies, nor the secretary of homeland

security was asked about mir ran diazing the 23 -- mirandaizing the 23-year-old nigerian suspect on flight 253. >> i understand, admiral blair, in response to senator collins you were not consulting in what venue the christmas bomber would be tried in; is that correct? >> correct, sir. >> how about you? >> no, i wasn't. >> secretary napolitano? >> no. >> reporter: after the 23-year-old underwear bomb caused fire but failed to detonate on flight 253, he was questioned by civilian law enforcement. the white house says useful information was gathered but one investigated source notes that umar farouk abdulmutallab was in severe pain at the time and heavily medicated. critics of the decision say abdulmutallab should have been transferred to the military for long-term questioning to gather intelligence about al-qaeda in yemen. the group the claimed responsibility. in a separate hearing before the senate judiciary, the fbi director said he was not consulted either. but he appeared to defend the administration's call. >> in this particular's case,

fast-moving events, decisions were made appropriately, i believe, very appropriately given the situation. >> i don't think you can say it's appropriately. we don't know what the individual learned while working in al-qaeda. >> the nation's top intelligence officer said the administration's newly created group headquartered at the fbi known as the high value detainee intergration group was never in play. >> we should have automatically deployed the hivg. we'll make a new mistake, not that one. >> reporter: they were told lessons were learned. also new teams to drill down into the smallest pieces of intelligence. there were also moments of contrition. >> the counterterrorism system collectively failed. and i along with director blair and secretary napolitano and others want to tell you and the american people the same thing we told the president. that we have to do better. >> given that four senior administration officials say they were not consulted about

mirandaizing the alleged christmas day bomber, fox news asked the sdwris department whether they make the call. a justice department spokesman would not say who authorized it or how high up the decision went. bret? >> bret: the stunning testimony we'll be following. thank you. >> you're welcome. >> bret: back to the drawing board for the administration in finding a leader of the transportation security administration. white house correspondent wendell goler is live with that story. good evening. >> reporter: a year after the president took office and nearly a month after the attempted bopping op an airliner over detroit, there is still no permanent head of the transportation security administration. and republicans and democrats are each blaming the other for compromising the nation's security. former fbi agent erroll southers withdrew his nomination blaming a partisan climate he called unacceptable, saying, "i refuse to allow myself to remain part of their dialogue." fears that southers would allow the tsa security screeners to unionize are what trigg triggered jim demint

objections to the nomination. >> it started by asking if his priority was to force our tsa system in to collective bargaining, but when we didn't get a straight answer on that, it started to concern us. then we found out he hadn't told the committees the truth about some past problems he had had with the fbi. >> reporter: southers said he planned to cost-benefit analysis on tsa workers unionizing but the decision would have been up to the president and secretary of homeland security. he blames his memory for inconsistent answers to background checks he requested on the estranged wife boyfriend. the white house says the nation losing his 30 years of terrorism and counterintelligence experience. >> it's clear that a job of, a job of great importance, head of the tsa, was clearly held up by a partisan political argument.

>> reporter: southers told me he's apolitical and would have gladly worked for arizona senator john mccain if he had won the election a year ago. bret? >> bret: wendell, thank you. the u.s. military is sending 4,000 additional troops to haiti. that announcement came hours after haiti was rudely awakened by one of the worst aftershocks since tuesday's earthquake. it was centered 35 miles west of port-au-prince where we find corresponde correspondent harrigan tonight. good evening, steve. >> reporter: the shaking lasted several seconds. you could hear it in the hotel. people burst out at 6:00 in the morning, many half asleep and a man jumped from his second floor balcobalcony. no injuries reported there. we spent the day at a hospital set up, field hospital set up by the university of miami. one of the main operations that we are seeing, oompseeing: amputations. here is what the scene looked like. we're seeing a lot of here in

the field hospital is amputations, because the rescuers couldn't get to those with the open fractures in the first few hours. some of them waited for four or five days so you see a lot of people missing a stump of an arm or a leg. because infections, because they didn't want gangrene to set in. the only case, the only option was amputation. they're doing about 25 a day right now. some of the patients like this year missing a parent, ten months old. her mother died in the rubble. she was brought here by u.s. soldiers. the doctors are going out in rougherest neighborhoods and with them a heavy security detail. back to you. >> bret: harring harrsteve harr port-au-prince, thank you. the president and first lady are donating $15,000 of their own money for the haiti relief efforts and white house spokesman said the check is in the mail to the effort fronted by former presidents bill clinton and george w. bush. we'll examine how the

massachusetts senate election could effect this fall's midterm races. and today, marks one year since president obama took office. we will look at how the political landscape is changing. ♪ my sunglasses. ♪ people say i'm forgetful. maybe that's why we go to so many memorable places.

love the road you're on. the subaru outback. motor trend's 2010 sport/utility of the year. having to go in the middle of traffic and just starting and stopping. having to go in the middle of a ballgame and then not being able to go once i got there. and going at night. i thought i had a going problem. my doctor said i had a growing problem. it wasn't my bladder. my prostate was growing. i had an enlarging prostate that was causing my urinary symptoms. my doctor prescribed avodart. (announcer) over time, avodart actually shrinks the prostate and improves urinary symptoms. so i can go more easily when i need to go and go less often. (announcer) avodart is for men only. women should not take or handle avodart due to risk of a specific birth defect. do not donate blood until 6 months after stopping avodart. tell your doctor if you have liver disease. rarely sexual side effects, swelling or tenderness of the breasts can occur. only your health care provider can tell

if symptoms are from an enlarged prostate and not a more serious condition like prostate cancer. so have regular exams. call your doctor today. avodart. help take care of your growing problem

>> bret: the virginia couple who crashed a white house state dinner november doesn't want to talk about it to congress. they invoked the fifth amendment right when they were called before the house homeland security committee this morning. the obama white house is probably not in celebratory mood after the rebuke it received tuesday from the massachusetts voters but this is the first anniversary of the president's inauguration.

tonight, the last installment of senior correspondent at the white house major garrett's look at year one and the political changing landscape. >> reporter: a year ago today, they celebrated obama's domination in what felt like era of democratic dominance. in recent months, everywhere, his campaign, virginia, new jersey, and marks, the democrats loss. the only place this obama message worked in the 23rd district, the president didn't even campaign. after so many set-backs one of the president's top advisors says it's time to rethink policy and politics. any reasonable person evaluates everything. when you're in politics and that are ups and downs and, you know, this is certainly one of those cases. >> reporter: a year ago, mr. obama's approval was in the high 60s. axelrod said he always feared a big fall. >> i said to the president, you know, you have some gaudy poll numbers now, but enjoy them. because a year from now, they

won't be nearly as good. you have can't govern an economy like this and not take a big hit. >> the big hit, counties that turned red. like fairfax, county, virginia, where mr. obama beat john mccain by more than 100,000 votes. less than year later, bob mcdonald won fairfax county by more than 4,000 votes. it's visible the middlesex county, new jersey. mr. obama carried it by 70,000 votes. in november, republican chris christie by jon corzine. scott brown rode the same wave. obama had a 10,000 vote victory, but then yesterday brown won it. the president's campaign manager said the frustration that lifted mr. obama is pulling him and his party down. >> people are struggling out there. they have a right to be angry. >> reporter: he says they

have a voice to revoke his spending and healthcare reform. >> i don't think americans signed up for this much additional spending or this much healthcare reform. the excess caused political reaction. for every action in politics there is an opposite reaction. >> reporter: as the president retools, the advisors hope he will gain momentum as rapidly as he lost it. at the white house, major garrett, fox news. >> bret: well, you can follow major on both twitter and our white house unit's blog. whitehouse.blogs.foxnews.com. major will be part of the show tonight. you can log on and interact with all of us. senate democrats want to allow the government to boar rean additional $1.9 trillion to pay its bills. that would increase the national debt to $14.3 trillion. without the increase, the u.s. would default on obligations to china and other creditors. the legislation will need 60 votes to pass in the senate.

the white house supports the move. stocks were drop -- dropped down today. the dow dropped 122 1/4. the s&p 500 lost 12 1/5. nasdaq fell 29 and change. some folks are already making investments in senator elect scott brown's political future. and the u.n. comes clean on its warning that himalayan glaciers will disappear soon because of global warming. ng ) someday, the driver will get to choos how efficient or powerful their car will be. the first ever hs hybrid. only from lexus. the most fuel-efficient of all luxury vehicles. the most fuel-efficient get wrapped up in the luscious taste of butternut squash, blended with delicate herbs. v8 golden butternut squash. from campbell's. a soup so velvety and delicious you won't be able to contain yourself. campbell's v8 soups.

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>> bret: and now some fresh pickings from the political grapevine. the final vote count for tuesday's special election in massachusetts had republican scott brown winning with 52% to democrat martha coakley's 47%. but the day before election day, there were a lot of polls out there, as you can see right here. but just who came closest to the final numbers? public policy was the closest. predicting brown to win by five points. american research group had brown ahead by seven. insider advantage with politico put brown's lead at nine. p.j.m. cross target had the republican winning by ten-point spread. the daily coast, the final numbers had a die with both candida -- numbers had tie. several scott brown for president with domain names have been purchased. rights for scott brown for.com com were bought on friday.

scott brown 2012 and scott brown 2016 were acquired tuesday. whoever purchased the domain name stands to make a pretty penny if the senator elect decides to make a presidential run. update on grapevine item we brought you monday. united nations climate scientist today admitted a warning including in the 2007 report that global warming will melt the himalayan glaciers by 2035 was not actually based on science. a. stay -- a statement read -- in drafting the paragraph in question the well and standards of evidence require by the governmental panel on climate change, procedures were not applied properly. that 2007 nobel winning report claimed to include the latest and most detailed research into the impact of global warming. and is supposed to be the basis for government policy. some are seeing the revelation a little differently. a headline linked on the huffington post website rheaed, "himalayan glacier

goof-up. more fake ammo for the climate denial industry." ♪ ♪ >> bret: our top story at the bottom of the hour, massachusetts senator elect scott brown says he's coming to washington thursday. the previously unknown republican shocked the political world with a huge upset win tuesday to take the seat occupied by the late senator ted kennedy for nearly a half century. correspondent shannon bream reports republicans hope and democrats worry that brown's victory could set the stage for this fall's mid-term elections. >> if anyone doubts that in this next election season that's about to begin, well, let them take a look at what happened in massachusetts. what happened here in massachusetts can happen all over america. >> reporter: with 36 senate seats up for grabs this fall, both parties are increasingly aware of the potential if a power shift. especially in 11 so-called toss-up seats. seven currently held by democrats and four held by

republicans. based on last night's victory, gop leaders are feeling good about their chances to make significant gains. >> it sounded to me like by 100,000-vote majority and one of the most liberal states in america that people said rather outspoken fashion with a high turn-out, an unusual high turn-out a special election in january for goodness sake, that they'd like for to us go in a different direction. >> reporter: there is growing optimism among house republicans as well. >> the american people, the people of massachusetts last night have rejected the arrogance. they are tired of being told by washington how to think and what to do. >> reporter: but today white house press secretary robert gibbs down played the significance of any voter outrage in massachusetts, saying the bay state voters attitudes are the same one that propelled president obama to the white house. >> i think the anger that the president addressed more than a year ago to get elected,

the anger that we've seen throughout this year and the anger -- is very similar to the anger that we saw last night. >> reporter: democratic leaders were restrained today saying last night's win doesn't give republicans a mandate, but it does give them additional burdens. >> and it doesn't change republicans' responsibility to work with us. to work for the american people. if anything, it's now important, more important than ever for the republicans to be willing to work toward common ground. >> reporter: thesenator bob menendez sounded defiept today talking about the fall. he told democrats you have to be aggressive defining your opponents and also you have to remind voter what is republicans will do to this country if we give them the chance. bret? >> bret: shannon bream live on capitol hill. shannon, thank you. in world headlines, the afghan government and its international partners today approved plans to train an additional 100,000 security

personnel by the end of next year. it also outlined a strategy to reintegrate taliban militants who agree to lay down their weapons. israel is reacting coolly to a palestinian proposal for an undecleared settlement freeze in east jerusalem. the idea is part of a push from palestinian president mahmoud abbas to get stalled peace talks moving again. american envoy george mitchell arrived in the region today. we will get reaction from the fox all-stars to last night's big senate election in massachusetts. and what it means for healthcare reform. we're back in three minutes. . i was always going

having to go in the middle of traffic and just starting and stopping. having to go in the middle of a ballgame and then not being able to go once i got there. and going at night. i thought i had a going problem. my doctor said i had a growing problem. it wasn't my bladder. my prostate was growing. i had an enlarging prostate that was causing my urinary symptoms.

my doctor prescribed avodart. (announcer) over time, avodart actually shrinks the prostate and improves urinary symptoms. so i can go more easily when i need to go and go less often. (announcer) avodart is for men only. women should not take or handle avodart due to risk of a specific birth defect. do not donate blood until 6 months after stopping avodart. tell your doctor if you have liver disease. rarely sexual side effects, swelling or tenderness of the breasts can occur. only your health care provider can tell if symptoms are from an enlarged prostate and not a more serious condition like prostate cancer. so have regular exams. call your doctor today. avodart. help take care of your growing problem >> i think we can do it better. and to just be the 41st senator and bring it back to the drawing board. >> heeding the particular concerns of the voters of massachusetts last night, we heard, we will heed, we will move forward with their considerations in mind, but we will move forward for health

care. >> we as democrats have to say okay we get the message. we can't keep moving on as if nothing happened in massachusetts. >> i know leadership over the weekend but let's take the senate bill and just vote on it in the house floor. i bet it wouldn't get 100 votes. >> bret: some reaction to scott brown's big win in massachusetts and the president weighed in today in an interview with abc. here is part of what he said about health care reform. he said "i would advise that we move quickly to coalesce around those elements of the package people agree on." about the overall impact of the election he said "people are angry and they're frustrated, not just because of what happened in the last year or two years but because what's happened over the last eight years." so what about this? bring in our panel steve haze senior writer for "the weekly standard." juan williams national public radio and syndicated columnist charles krauthammer. charles? >> wanted to explain it all away.

first, he wants to explain away his anger against the previous administration which is sort of a record for longevity of this line of blaming it all on george bush. but, even the idea that it's all the result of some kind of anger, inco-hate, unthinking, emotional, about the bad times is absurd. this is not a free-floating anger out there. it's quite specific. what's remarkable about the campaign that we had in massachusetts is how specific the republican was. he said "i'm going to stop health care." he said "i'm not going to allow a terrorist to get a lawyer in jail and miranda rights." he said "i'm going to cut taxes, not raise them." it was extremely specific and extremely a republican and conservative. this was a center-right country even in massachusetts, repudiating a left agenda. this is not rocket science. it's about substance. it's not about anger. every time the republicans succeed, it's all about anger and irrationallality.

when you had the gingrich revolution 16 years ago, it was called the year of the angry white male. and peter jennings declared on the evening news that the country had thrown a tantrum as if conservatives can only be a expression of irrationality and emotionalism. if obama wins it's hope and change and peace and light and the goodness of the american soul. this was an election about substance and the democrats lost on substance. >> bret: juan, when you hear democrat part stupak say if they brought the health bill to the house floor they wouldn't get 100 votes. what do you think about that? health care reform as written dead? >> no. i think that bart stupak is saying that on the abortion issue he feels the senate bill is unacceptable and he feels he can hold his votes. and people who would not go along with the senate plan. clearly though nancy pelosi has

he another idea which is that she believes that she is exert sufficient pressure to win enough votes among the democrats in the house to get this thing through. and she has committed 100% to steaming ahead like a locomotive to get this done. i was, you know, -- >> bret: you hear the president saying we should coalesce around the elements of the package people agree on. >> right. >> bret: there is a lot republicans don't agree on on this package as written. >> republicans aren't part of the deal. republicans opposed every element of it. there is little, unless you are talking here, bret, about the possibility of getting olympia snowe in the senate to make up for the fact that you have now lost the seat to the republican. the republicans just aren't in the game. it's a matter of holding the democrats together and the problem is that the white house' plan as advanced over the weekend was let's stick with the senate bill and get the house to approve the senate bill, what we heard from stupak today is that's not going to happen. now, i would say though one thing very quickly that brown

has now said, you know what? he is a one vote to stop the health care bill as it's been proposed but he thinks they should reopen it and have more discussions about different look at health care reform in this country. i don't know if he is speaking the truth there, because i think if you reopen it, it's still -- it's deader than it will ever be. >> bret: steve, what about the tone here and the white house kind of indicating that they are going to go populous from now on? >> it is remarkable when you look across sort of the landscape over the last 24 hours the comments from the democrats, some of which you played there, shows a party in chaos. and i think a white house in chaos. they don't quite know how to get. this they don't understand what this means. the one thing that you do see from the white house as reported in the "new york times" today, they have decided that they are going to remake barack obama as a populous. it doesn't make any sense. it's not going to work. this is the same guy who on sunday mocked scott brown for driving a pickup truck and talk about something that has

resonance out in the country. it wasn't just that he mocked scott brown for driving a pickup and that he said everybody can buy a pickup truck, everybody can buy a truck, which suggests that obama is looking at this strictly through a political prism as if he bought the truck, you know, for some kind of a prop as if it was just something that you do to make an ad. scott brown actually drove his truck. it had 201,000 miles on it when the campaign ended. and a lot of other people in the country drive trucks. it wasn't just what the president said. it was how he said it he delivered that line, which he delivered more than once, as if were an inside joke. as if everybody knows, as if all of the smart people understand that trucks are sort of something to be laughed at. that is going to, i think, follow him for months and months and it's going to make his transition to barack obama the populous nearly impossible. >> bret: there are some analysts like yourself who believe barack obama and candidate obama had problem with this all along. take a listen to this little

sound bite. >> forget the truck. [ laughter ] everybody can buy a truck. >> the cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. >> they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy towards people who are not like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment or antitrade sentiment, as a way to explain their frustrations. >> bret: charles, fair? >> this is the harvard faculty club. this is a guy who spent most of his adult life in liberal circles and for him to play the populous is going to be hard. now, he tried it. the bank tax was invented over the weekend as a lifeline that supposedly might have helped coakley. he sprung it on the country in

boston, perhaps it helped her a bit. i'm sure that is what they are going to ride. they are going to spend the rest of the year running against wall street. i don't think it's going to work because i don't think he is the man who can deliver it. also, it has a tin sound when he says it. it is going to show. >> populous energy is driving right now american politics. at the moment it's coming from the right and it's anger at big government intrusive government, the possibility of tax increases, much of it embodied in the health care bill. but, there is no question in my mind that populous energy was also what drove anger and upset at george w. bush and at the republicans over the last eight years. and that's what helped bolt barack obama from his status as one term illinois senator. >> bush was never elitist, he never had image of that in fact, he has the opposite. obama that image and that's essentially a revelation of what

he is inside. that's why it's going to be hard to play the role. >> i don't think that going after the banks, going after the oil companies, saying that the big insurance companies have been absolutely gouging us have been leading small business into bankruptcy. it's going to be interpreted as anything but appealing to the people. will it work for obama is the question. >> the same insurance companies he was in bed with to make the health care bill. >> bret: heated exchanges today on capitol hill and hearings on. terrorism.

>> the message we need to send in dealing with terrorists our tax dollars, our tax dollars should pay for weapons to stop them and not lawyers to defend them. [cheers and applause] >> bret: that's scott brown on the issue of terrorism in his acceptance speech. he ran pretty strong on that issue in the bluest of blue states, massachusetts. we're back with the panel. steve, what about that for republicans and for this candidate? >> well, it was a big issue. i think it was an under cover issue. eric forum strom was a spokeman for the campaign told national review that their polling, their internal polling showed that that, terrorist rights, terrorist rights issue played bigger than health care in what appealed to voters. i think when you look at what happened there, and you look at what happened today on capitol hill with the testimony of these

four administration officials, basically said that they did not interrogate abdulmutallab the christmas day bomber for intelligence. they interrogated him for prosecution. most of them were not contacted -- the four of them were not contacted by the fbi agents on the ground to ask them how to treat this terrorist is a stunning revelation. the only reason the white house can be happy about what happened in massachusetts is that it is providing nice cover for how stunningly incompetent the administration looked in these hearings today. >> bret: let's quickly play the sound bite from the hearing. take a listen. >> i understand, admirable blair, that in response to senator collins you were not consulted as to what venue the christmas bomber would be tried in; is that correct? >> that's correct, yes, sir. >> how about you, mr. lighter? >> no, i wasn't. >> secretary napolitano? >> no. >> when we put the a.i.g.

together, the main -- we were thinking of terrorists captured overseas and we did not think about that case in which a terrorist was apprehended as this one was in the united states. >> bret: went on to say we'll do it better next time. that's the nation's top intelligence officer. high value detainee interrogation group. that's the hig. blare released minutes ago a statement saying that the hig is not fully operational yet. >> that makes it worse. this is absolutely stunning. the administration on day one literally a year ago today said the president signed an executive order against torture. and involved in that was establishing a way to interrogate important detainees. and that was establishing mid year this juliohigg. the oversight is provided in the white house.

now, we learned now a half a year later that the hig isn't even in place and secondly what we just heard that it was only -- nobody had thought of what happens if you capture a terrorist in the united states. this apparatus involved hundreds, thousands of people and billions of dollars a year and not one of them said what happens if we capture a terrorist in the united states? this is absolutely unbelievable. the real scandal here is not that a guy with a bomb got on a plane. it can happen in any bureaucracy, administration. but the scandal is what happened after, treating him as an ordinary criminal. >>, according to the white house, they had 30 hours or more with abdulmutallab asking him everything they wanted to ask him before he got lawyered up. now, you can argue about whether or not he he should have a lawyer, whether he should be treated in the civilian courts of the united states and all, but the fact is the questioning

about take place. and the second thing to say is even if it was an issue for voters in massachusetts, as steve suggested, the fact is of the poll out this week from abc that indicated most americans thought well of the president's handling of this christmas affair and thought well of president obama in general in terms of his ramping up his knowledge of handling of terrorism. >> bret: quickly, you were surprised to hear them say none of them were contacted by the mirandizing? >> that's shocking. i don't know how you could go forward without blair knowing. as you pointed out is he our top intelligence official. >> bret: we will have another panel, i promise. that's it for this panel. stay tuned for serious spinning on the massachusetts race. ♪

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charlie:hat's how you do it son. vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. >> bret: finally tonight, there are a lot of folks in the media weighing in on the massachusetts race and how democrats could end up losing in the bluest of blue

states. many in the mainstream media are discounting the big picture impact and, instead, focusing and really saying it's all about the democratic candidate. >> democratic officials say that she has not turned out to be the best campaigner. >> the massachusetts senate caught on camera not offering a hand to help a guy who was knocked over by a supporter of hers. >> coakley insulted fenway park. >> she is not a fan of either. >> the coakley campaign actually misspelled massachusetts. [ laughter ] >> coakley was asked her favorite cream pie. she said banana. [ laughter ] thanks for inviting us into your home tonight, that's it for "special report," fair, balanced, and unafraid. "special report" online begins right now when we're going to continue that fiery panel. stay tuned.